So the semester is over, work is over, and Christmas break is here. I should be able to post a lot more during my break. I've just been going through a lot lately so I haven't really been in the mood to post. So here's a recap on everything makeup: I tried out the Naked 3 palette. It's pretty good. More on that in my review/tutorial post coming up this week. I never did try out that Sultra Curling Rod just yet, but I did get around to trying the Babyliss Miracurl, which I'll be talking about right now! I used it last night to curl my hair and wow. I never did get around to finishing the Perfect Palette Tag, but that's next on my list. I also bought a few products from Lush for the first time in my life. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to try out my bath bomb or bubble bar because my tub is pretty dirty. I'm going to wash it this week and then take a relaxing bath and I'll let you know all about it. I also got my mom a Christmas present there too, but I can't say what it is just yet in case she reads this. I'm still trying to figure out what to get my dad and brother. Any suggestions?
Finally, my Babyliss Miracurl has arrived!! Actually, it arrived last week after a looong looong wait (I bought it on Black Friday online but it was out of stock so I had to wait a while for them to receive it and then ship it out to me). I used this last week on my mom's hair when we first received it. Her hair wasn't freshly washed, and getting greasy, so it didn't curl well im some areas, namely, the back of her head, where it didn't curl at all. But it curled very nicely on the sides of her head. I had similar trouble with this, so I would recommend using this on freshly-washed hair ONLY. I was excited to try it out, so that same night I curled various sections of my dirty hair and got the same problems as my mother. My hair is very difficult to curl too. So unless your hair curls very easily, I really don't recommend using this on dirty hair.
My mom bought the Miracurl because she wanted to be able to curl her hair very easily and quickly, without the fuss of a regular curling iron or rod. I can say that it definitely does curl hair much quicker and it makes the job so much easier. It does give a different type of curl, in my opinion, but I still do enjoy it and I think it looks lovely.
I also want to note that I am not wearing any makeup. Not even 1%. So can we please not talk about the outbreak of pimples in my forehead/nose region?? And can we not talk about how bad I look?? God bless Photobooth for the above photo and not making me look like too much crap.
What's In The Box?
The box contains the Miracurl (obviously), a cleaning tool, and 3 booklets. The cleaning took is very tiny, and is meant to be put in the space between the roller and the side of the machine (on the side that faces your head). It is covered with felt, so that it gently cleans the roller without scratching or breaking it. The included booklets are the instruction manual, a quick-start guide, and a tips and techniques style lookbook.
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| Front this is the side that faces your head hair goes into the V shape, right on top of the roller |
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| Back |
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| Top |
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| Bottom |
How Does It Work?
Now, before I get into my in-depth review, I'm going to explain how this device works. When I first saw it, I thought it looked like some extra-terrestrial croquet mallet. But no, it's actually a device to easily and quickly curl hair. I'll first explain how the setting works, and then I'll explain how this actually curls your hair. So, the first setting, located on the left, is the curl direction setting. This decides which in direction your curls are going to turn. The 3 options are: R,L, and A. R is for right, so you choose this if you want curls going right, or if you are working on the right side of your head. L is for left, so you choose this for curls going left, or if you are working o the left side of your head. A is for alternating, so it alternates your curls left and right, so you have a more natural look. This is the setting that I chose for today's look. The next setting is the time setting. The 4 options are: 12, 10, 8, 0 seconds. You choose the time option for your hair type; I should have chosen 8 seconds for my fine hair, but I chose 10 seconds because my hair is difficult to curl (and even more difficult to keep that curl!). So if you have coarse, thick hair, you should choose 12 seconds. The last setting is the time setting, where again, you have 4 options. You have III, II, I, and on/off. The on/off switch is at the right-most setting. You turn on the device by selecting the level of heat that you want. The red light will blink until it is ready, where it will then be continuously lit. For my fine hair, I chose the "I" setting. The three different heat settings are: I is 375F, II is 410F, and III is 450F. So you choose which heat setting is appropriate for your hair. That's about it for the different functions, now I'll explain how this device magically curls your hair!
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| The Settings: R,L,A (curl direction) 12,10,8,0 (time) III, II, I, on/off (temperature) |
So you've set your settings, it's all heated up and ready to go, but now what? How exactly does this device curl your hair? So first, you should section off your hair like you would normally do when you curl your hair. Take a strand of hair in one hand, and the device in the other. There are two different sides to the device. On the first side, you can see the roller in the middle, and it reads "this side up (toward head)". You need to make sure that this side is ALWAYS facing your head. The other side is closed and you do not see the roller. So take your strand of hair, and you want to place it into the "V", with the rest of the strand hanging out, and then clamp down. The "V" leads down into the roller. When you clamp down, the Miracurl sucks the hair in from the other side (the side where your ends are) and then it rolls it around the curler. It'll beep once when it's in, and then it will beep three consecutive times when it's ready to be released. Make sure you keep it clamped while it's curling your hair. And make sure you release it before you take your hair out, otherwise it will just straighten your hair. I also think there's a method to removing your hair from the device. I like to go as slow and gently as possible so that I don't damage the curl. So that's it! The Miracurl does all the work for you! The only thing you need to do is section off your hair, and feed strands into the Miracurl! As they say, hair goes in, curl comes out!
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| This side faces your head Hair goes into the V, which gets sucked in to the roller |
What if you put your hair in the wrong way or it gets tangled up inside? The device will beep quickly and stop when it senses something's wrong. Then you unclamp it and remove your hair. It doesn't pull or hurt.
Now I didn't think of including any pictures or video of me curling my hair at the time so I hope this explanation was good enough for you to get a mental picture of how the Babyliss Miracurl works.
My Review
I have to say that I quite enjoyed using the Miracurl. It made curling my hair fun, fast, and easy. It was soooo cool to watch my hair get sucked up by the Miracurl and then get a nice curl in 10 seconds! It was really easy to use. I didn't really have to read the instructions, it was pretty intuitive. I really liked that it had an alternating setting for the direction of the curl. It heated up quickly. It's also good that there is a "0" time option, so if you need a bit more time, you can leave it in for as long as you like. I used the settings that were optimal for my hair, but I found that in some areas it didn't curl well. I had a few strands that were partially straight and partially curly. I was using the Miracurl on day-old hair so that could be the culprit, so I won't blame the Miracurl just yet. My hair is difficult to curl, so that could also be the problem. But for the curls that I did get, it looked fantastic. I used the alternating curls setting, and it looks very natural. As a whole, it curled very well on the lowest heat setting and middle time setting. It took so much less time than my usual curling method, where I curl my hair using a straightener (flat iron). I'm going to give this a 10/10 for now, and I'll definitely have to figure out why those random few strands don't curl. I'm pretty sure it was because they might have been more greasy, because when I first used the Miracurl when I first got it on me and my mom's third day hair, the greasier strands just would not curl. I definitely think you should go pick one up if you're interested, and maybe even as a gift to mom to make her morning routine much easier and faster!
My Tutorial
I started off using second day hair, but for best results, I suggest using freshly-washed hair. I divided my hair into 3 sections to start with. For the first section, take a rat-tooth comb and go above your ear and around to your other ear. This will be the bottom part. Then divide the hair you have left into two parts, I divided mine in the middle. I curl the bottom first and then I take out small horizontal sections from the left section starting at the bottom and working my way up to the top. And then I do the same thing on the right side. I don't have much hair and my hair is very fine, so you may need more, smaller sections depending on your hair type. Each strand you put in the Miracurl might need to be bigger/smaller depending on your hair type and how curly you want it to be. I also hair sprayed each strand after I curled it using Big Sexy Hair's Spray and Play Hairspray. I love all their products, I may have to do a review on their line one day.
I explained above how to curl your hair, so I won't go over it again in fear of this being too repetitive. I will tell you the settings I used for my thin, fine hair. I did alternating curls to get a more natural look. I also curled my hair for 10 seconds because my hair is harder to curl. I used the lowest heat setting, I, because of my hair type. So I used: A, 10, I. Obviously, if you have thick coarse hair you would use A, 12, III, and if you have normal hair you'd use A, 10, II.
So I hope you enjoyed this review and tutorial in one! Again, I apologize for not having any pictures of me using the Miracurl. It is very easy to figure out how to use it, so I don't think any of you would have any trouble with it. This may be my new go-to hair curling device! I love using a straightener, but it takes sooo long to do, whereas with the Miracurl, it literally takes seconds. Have any of you tried the Babyliss Miracurl? Do you think it's worth it?
I've got a bunch of posts coming up, like the Perfect Palette Tag, Urban Decay's Naked 3 review and tutorial, my first Lush experience, etc. So don't miss out by subscribing!!
Steph xo.
